We’ll rock you, promises heavy metal festival

- Metalheads gear up for perfromances by bands from around the country and Post Mark’s reunion

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The wait is over! Members of Post Mark. File picture

Imphal, April 8: Like heavy metal music? Then you are in for a treat! Get set for a head-banging extravaganza as Imphal gears up to host a heavy metal convention.

Metal bands from Manipur, Nagaland and West Bengal will set the stage on fire on April 14 at the Metal Age Reloaded Festival 2012. One of the highlights of the event will be the reunion of Post Mark — Manipur’s pioneering heavy mental band — which will make a comeback after nearly 20 years. The band had broken up following the death of their vocalist, Abungcha.

The line-up for the event will include local bands Cleave, Shandrembee, Chem Weed F.M, Dead Mobster and Post Mark.

Yonsample from Calcutta and Azure Delusion from Nagaland will also perform.

“This (event) is the first of its kind, with metal bands from around India performing together in a festival. So, we call it (the) Imphal Metal Convention,” spokesman for the event and vocalist of Shandrembee, Eroz Laishram, said.

The metal festival is being organised by Sandramee and The Greens, a group of music lovers in association with Imphal’s Riverboat Event Management group.

Recently, there has been a revival of rock and metal music in Manipur, with foreign bands such as Higher-On Maiden and Counterfeit Beatles touring the state.

Fire House, a US-based band, was also scheduled to perform in Imphal this month. But, their show had to be postponed after band members were denied visas by New Delhi.

“The main idea behind the metal festival is to encourage local bands to rise to international standards and compete with worlds’ metal bands. We have a large number of heavy metal fans. They (will) have the rare opportunity of enjoying foreign bands, when they come here,” Laishram said.

He said the metal festival in Imphal would be different from the rock shows at the Hornbill festival in Nagaland.

Post Mark will be the main highlight of the festival. The regrouped band have inducted well-known Manipuri singer Uttam as their main vocalist and the band would play songs from their album “Stamp on you” which was released in 1989.

Laishram said metal bands from other states had also expressed a desire to participate in the festival, but could not be accommodated this time. “We will make the festival an annual event and next time we plan to bring together more bands,” Laishram said.